Interview: Spectrum Road - Fusing Muses

If you’re a fan of fusion—not the flaccid new-age drivel
playing over the decrepit sound system of a declining
department store, but the merging of stellar jazz musicianship
and unpredictability with rocking tones and
instrumentation—then you’re probably no stranger to
legendary drummer Tony Williams and his hugely influential band.
The Tony Williams Lifetime was arguably the first, full-on jazz-rock
fusion band, and in its many incarnations it was the launching pad
for some of jazz-rocks biggest giants. It was the band from which
jazz god Miles Davis—who, less than a decade before, had hired
Williams to man the skins in his band at age 17—somewhat controversially,
plucked the young John McLaughlin, who would later
go on to form the mighty Mahavishnu Orchestra. It was also the
band from which Allan Holdsworth, following his stint with the
Soft Machine, would influence an entire generation of guitarists
with his startlingly fluid chops. (Perhaps most notable was his influence
on Eddie Van Halen, whose phrasing, note choices, and tone
owe hugely to Holdsworth’s playing on Lifetime songs like the classic
“Red Alert” from 1975’s Believe It.)

Of the many players influenced by Tony Williams, Jack Bruce
and Vernon Reid aren’t necessarily best known for their fusion work.
Bruce practically wrote the book on power-trio rock bass playing
with his groundbreaking work in Cream with Eric Clapton and
Ginger Baker. And Reid found fame as the ferocious fret-burner who,
along with his bandmates in Living Colour, was at the forefront of
the late-’80s funk-metal vanguard. However, as their discographies
prove, both players are avowed fans of the
aforementioned fusion icons. Which is why
they recently joined forces with former Lenny
Kravitz drummer Cindy Blackman-Santana
and Hammond B3 guru John Medeski
to pay their respects to Williams and the
Lifetime as Spectrum Road.

On their eponymously titled debut, the
four virtuosos revisit Lifetime’s surging,
stylistically expansive material, digging
into deep, free-flowing improvisations as
well as poetic vocal tunes. Most of the
Lifetime songs on Spectrum Road (with
the exception of Believe It’s “Wild Life”)
are drawn from Lifetime’s earlier albums,
including 1969’s Emergency! and 1970’s
Turn It Over. The latter of these two
fusion classics featured none other than
Bruce on bass and vocals.

While Bruce is most often remembered
as the voice and brawn powering
hits like “Sunshine of Your Love” and
“White Room,” the fact is that just a
couple years after his short tenure in
Cream, he was whisked into Lifetime
when Williams dropped by the Fillmore
East to check out Bruce’s band. Jazz,
and rock, would never be the same.

Jack, how did you first connect with
Tony Williams, and what attracted you
to this genre of music that was emerging
in the late ’60s?Jack Bruce: Well, I had first heard
Tony playing on [jazz saxophonist] Eric
Dolphy’s Out to Lunch!. When I listened
to that record, I just fell in love with his
style, because he completely turned the
drums around. He wouldn’t necessarily
play the snare drum part on the snare
drum—he might play it on the bass
drum or something else altogether.

One night I was playing with my
own band at the Fillmore East. There
were a bunch of people down at the East
that night, including Hendrix, and John
McLaughlin had brought Tony along
with him. Tony said to me, “Do you
want to join my band?” I said “Sure,
okay.” And I did! [laughs].

Bruce with Spectrum Road live at the legendary Yoshi’s Jazz Club
in Oakland, California, on February 5, 2011. Photo by Jerome Brunet

You’ve said your experience with the
Tony Williams Lifetime was “the musical
time of my life.”Bruce: It was exactly like when Cream
was just beginning and getting really
hot—that kind of magic, with all the
aspiration and the psychedelic thing
happening in the best possible way. The
same thing applied to Lifetime, because
it seemed like that was happening all
over again for me. In fact, it was probably
on another level from Cream.

What sort of influence would you say
Lifetime had on music?Bruce: I think the band probably had
quite an influence on Miles and various
others, but I don’t think the Lifetime
had as much of an impact as it might
have had. It was more on individuals
who managed to hear the band live or
on their records. It was not long lasting
enough, but the people who were fortunate
enough to hear that band—or in
my case, play with them—certainly changed
their attitude to music in many ways.

Vernon Reid: I would say that the impact
of Lifetime is discreetly massive. Jazz-rock,
from the jazz side, actually started with the
emergence of Lifetime. Yes, you already
had improvising rock bands—from King
Crimson to the Soft Machine—and you
could even say that Hendrix’s approach was
very improvisational. You could argue that
the psychedelic era had created a space for
fusion to happen. And somewhere in there,
a young Tony Williams created his own
expression of this collision of those sounds.

From the standpoint of the guitar, the
Lifetime’s influence has been tremendous.
After Santana and Hendrix, McLaughlin’s
playing with Lifetime certainly changed
my life. The roots of his genius are inside
the Lifetime album Emergency! By the time
you get to Miles’ Live-Evil and A Tribute to
Jack Johnson, and eventually Mahavishnu
Orchestra’s Inner Mounting Flame, there’s a
remarkable transformation.

Although Holdsworth had played with
the Soft Machine, his big impact on the
world of guitar came with Lifetime’s Believe
It, which almost overnight became the
musician’s-musician record. On Believe It,
Holdsworth simultaneously inspired a generation
and flipped them completely out!
Holdsworth was as original as McLaughlin,
but completely different. And while people
often focus on Holdsworth’s chops, to me
he’s just incredibly lyrical with this great
facility and legato feel.

Lifetime included other great guitarists
like Ted Dunbar and Ronnie Montrose.
There was even a version of Lifetime that
never recorded. It featured Ryo Kawasaki as
the guitarist. So a big part of Tony Williams’
legacy is that he loved guitar and clearly had
an ear for rock-inflected guitar. That certainly
all had a giant impact on me. In many
ways, this is the music that forged who I am.

Associate Editor Rich Osweiler started playing guitar at the tender age of 8, but over the years bass has become his main instrument. Prior to joining Premier Guitar, Rich worked at Acoustic Guitar for close to 10 years, most recently as associate publisher and director of marketing. He loves all types of music—from gypsy jazz to lo-fi and grindcore—provided the genre name isn’t preceded by the “contemporary” tag. Outside of music, Rich enjoys travel, skiing, backpacking, and learning how to be a dad. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, daughter, and their dog, Kiko.

Stay Connected

Sign up for our email newsletters!

Get the PG Apps

On PremierGuitar.com, "Sponsored Content" refers to articles, videos, or audio recordings that are produced or curated by an advertiser but that Premier Guitar is happy to share alongside our own editorial content due to the Sponsored Content’s educational, musical, or entertainment value. Sponsored Content is clearly labeled everywhere it appears, and Premier Guitar's editorial department has no involvement in its creation.